I would say summoning would be a cruel addition. Aushanna was definitely one of the hardest encounters of my campaign to date. A great part of the difficulty is the room layout.
The tactics I took were to move to some far location, take a full attack and move again. Thus, as the players try to adjust they ended up running up and down all the time. However, it also keeps her damage at a manageable level for the PCs.
If your players have no ranged options, then ... I don't know, this kinda requires having some sort of ranged attack. She would want to land to fire her bow to avoid the penalties for flying, so it would make sense that they could catch up to her that way.
She would want to land to fire her bow to avoid the penalties for flying
This one is news to me... where are there penalties for shooting a bow while flying? I am about to run this encounter this weekend and want to make sure I am not presenting her more powerful than I should be by missing giving her a minus.
Sean Mahoney
Nope... not yet... we broke last session (we play every other saturday for 10-12 hrs) with the party just about to leave Cauldron to go to Crazy Jared's... so pretty much first up.
It is certainly possible that the party could head right into the fight with Aushana though and so it could happen this Sat.
Sean Mahoney
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She would want to land to fire her bow to avoid the penalties for flyingThis one is news to me... where are there penalties for shooting a bow while flying? I am about to run this encounter this weekend and want to make sure I am not presenting her more powerful than I should be by missing giving her a minus.
Sean Mahoney
Yeah, I'm not aware of any such penalties either ... I vaguely recall something to that effect in 2nd edition.
Wow, I must have totally made that flying penalty up.
I thought you took a -1 with range attacks when flying and maybe some additional penalties if you kept hovering. However, I can find nothing on that at all. Maybe it was 3.0...
Anyways, she needs some excuse to land if you expect your range-less party to be effective. Perhaps the trigger for her summoning actually summons her next to the nearest non-kuo toa? That might give them a chance to attack before she can get out of range.
Another obscure rule is that she moves up at half speed. So, maybe that will give them time to attack from some of the platforms?
In simulations, I found that the 8 KT originally assigned to this room wouldn't be able to survive 20 rounds against my PCs, so I added another 4. By the time Aushanna showed up, they were mopping up the last KT, but they were in such bad shape that she was dropping a player/round.
In simulations, I found that the 8 KT originally assigned to this room wouldn't be able to survive 20 rounds against my PCs, so I added another 4. By the time Aushanna showed up, they were mopping up the last KT, but they were in such bad shape that she was dropping a player/round.
I'm looking forward to this combat (I expect it to happen in the next month) as my group has quite a bit of flying capability. Between the mage in the party and the cleric of travel, they can pretty well all fly (much less the flying magic items they may craft before then). Should make it quite interesting, and not the death-fest others have experienced.
I admit that the Mangh-Micto strategy of Deeper Darkness followed by Aushanna's True Seeing is nasty. If the group gets through the area fast and Aushanna arrives after, she might team up with Mangh and mash the party badly.
I admit that the Mangh-Micto strategy of Deeper Darkness followed by Aushanna's True Seeing is nasty. If the group gets through the area fast and Aushanna arrives after, she might team up with Mangh and mash the party badly.
I don't think I would pull this one out unless the encounter with Aushana is going far too quickly to be a challenge (and from what others have experienced, I am not sure that will be an issue even if your guys can fly... my parties sorcerer took fly as her 3rd level spell and it should pay off nicely).
Sean Mahoney
CEO
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Did you run the Gottrod encounter yet Sean?
When I ran this encounter, we had one of those awesome moments. The group drive Gottrod into the air and away from Crazy Jared, so when the rest of our group held back, the rogue was talking to Crazy Jared and the old coot cast some spell (I forget which one) that made the character look like a dashing knight. The player got into the roleplaying aspect and ended up having his character rush Gottrod, use his amazing jumping ability to jump on the poor dragon's back, and then delivered a crit backstab. Only once Gottrod's body started falling toward the earth did the player look at me with that "oh s%#@" look on his face. Thankfully, the sorcerer was able to cast feather fall and save the rogue's butt. But it was a classic moment!
-Lisa
Well, got to my game today and was told that a player we have been courting to join us for a little while is actually going to do so at our next session (2 weeks). So, I called tonight off and will be able to bring his character in at a better spot.
I am thinking I will have him having been receiving dreams that are intermittently divinations of the future and the relevant past. Things like the fall of Occipitus and so on. Each will end with the smoking eye. He will be searching for what this could mean and his path will have taken him up to the mountains toward Cauldron where he witnessed the fight between Gottrod and the red dragon and arrived at Crazy Jareds hut just a little before the PCs arrive. I am hoping that he will join with them in fending off the red and if he explains what he is doing in the area they will find they have a common goal (perhaps I will put something in his visions causing him to look for Zenith as well... still brainstorming this).
Anyway... if that won't for whatever reason, the next best spot I see that is a likely spot for another adventure is being held prisoner in with White-eyes and the other guy.
Any other good ideas for an introduction at this point in the adventure?
Sean Mahoney
As a player who survived through this encounter, I can honestly say we had a terrible time with her.
She killed our dwarven cleric and we had to back out before she killed us all.
The second time around we avoided the whole fly thing altogether by luring her into one of the side rooms where she could not fly away from us. Still a hard fight though. I guess thats what we get for having a warmage and not a true wizard. :/
I am thinking I will have him having been receiving dreams that are intermittently divinations of the future and the relevant past. Things like the fall of Occipitus and so on. Each will end with the smoking eye.
This sounds like a great idea. I would suggest the Haunted Dreams file from RPGenius. If you have the HC, have the character take the Dream Haunted listing in the back.
He will be searching for what this could mean and his path will have taken him up to the mountains toward Cauldron where he witnessed the fight between Gottrod and the red dragon and arrived at Crazy Jareds hut just a little before the PCs arrive.
Did you mean Dhorlot (the black) and Gottrod (the red)? I would be concerned about the timing of that encounter, the speed of Gottrod, and whether the new PC could keep up with Gottrod without being seen by Gottrod.
I am hoping that he will join with them in fending off the red and if he explains what he is doing in the area they will find they have a common goal.
You could have the new PC go to Crazy Jared's for "illumination" regarding his dreams, hoping that the hermit in the mountains is very wise. Of course, Jared is a loon. Disappointed (or possibly amused), the PC hangs around, playing along with Jared's delusions. Or if the PC is not very wise, he might stick around, thinking Jared is quite wise and it is his own fault he doesn't understand the wisdom of the hermit. In any case, when Gottrod attacks, the new PC will already be there.
Personally, I am changing the Jared encounter so that the PCs get to Jared's place, start talking to him and then the dragon attacks. Having the characters show up just as the dragon starts his attack of Jared seems too far-fetched. It also opens the possibility that they have realized Jared uses a lot of illusions, and that they are more likely to suspect the dragon is an illusion.
Anyway... if that won't for whatever reason, the next best spot I see that is a likely spot for another adventure is being held prisoner in with White-eyes and the other guy.
Any other good ideas for an introduction at this point in the adventure?
The prisoner idea has potential. The only problem I see is that they new guy will be missing all equipment and start with possibly less than optimal hit points and a bad AC. Not a good start for a character about to enter further into Bhal Hamatugn.
If there are any NPCs that have interacted well with group (Fario, Fellian, Shensen) or any NPCs in the group, you could have the new player run with them until a better opportunity arises for their own character to be introduced.
I'm looking forward to this combat (I expect it to happen in the next month) as my group has quite a bit of flying capability. Between the mage in the party and the cleric of travel, they can pretty well all fly (much less the flying magic items they may craft before then). Should make it quite interesting, and not the death-fest others have experienced.
Well, I finally ran the combat. It was interesting. With Fly spells and Enlarge buffs, it took the group 16 rounds to kill all of the kuo-toans. They had just healed up and started to catch their breath when Aushanna appeared. Due to other noises, I knew that Mangh-Micto would be joining the combat in 8-9 rounds after Aushanna appeared.
She hit the Enlarged Urban Ranger for some damage, and then quickly was surrounded by him, the other fighter and our rogue who all flew. She took 70 hp of damage from the multiple critical charges. She used her teleport to hide under the lower balcony corner (rolling a 38 for hide). The group, not realizing she had teleported, assumed she was invisible and tried swinging where she had been. She used Unholy Blight and zapped all of the flying guys at once. Urban Ranger is unconscious. She then unloaded with a full attack on the other fighter who was administering a healing potion to the Urban Ranger. Everyone spread out, using the balconies and the statue for cover. She cast another Unholy Blight against the fighter behind the statue. Unknown to her, our mage casts Locate Creature and Message to start letting party members know where she is. The group charges under the balcony. She's down to 9 hp as she teleports away, this time far away to re-evaluate.
By pure chance, Mangh now appears and casts Unholy Blight against the mage from the doorway. The group is worried that Aushanna has somehow blocked the Locate Creature spell. A Detect Evil allows them to notice Mangh. They charge in, as Aushanna teleports behind the statue. Party's mage immediately lets the group know where she is. Aushanna fires off a full volley at the party's cleric, doing 51 hp damage (leaving him with 2 hp). The Urban Ranger charges her and finishes her off. Combat continues into the back room, with the end result being Mangh's eventual demise.
Extremely memorable and quite a bit of fun.